Deportivo had come back from a
three goal deficit in previous games and had recently achieved the feat in Europe
in beating Paris St. Germaine. The Riazor Stadium was
a place where opposition trod in trepidation and not surprisingly, urged on by
the majority of the 34,500 spectators Deportivo threw
everything but the kitchen sink at United. On the night Deportivo
were ahead from the spot after only eight minutes but United held out until the
seventy-third minute before conceding again. After that Mark Viduka brought out a spectacular save from the Spanish
Keeper and Deportivo were reduced to speculative
shots from distance as United held firm. There were wholehearted efforts from
Alan Smith, Nigel Martyn, Ian Harte
and Olivier Dacourt and United progressed to the
Semi-Finals to meet another Spanish club, Valencia,
as England’s
sole surviving representative. Bayern Munich met Real
Madrid in the other Semi-Final.

Under merciless and unrelenting pressure
United swayed, wavered and rocked but refused to roll over to the Spanish
Champions in a spine-tingling ecounter at the Riazor Stadium which they would not forget in a hurry.
Their passage to the Semi-Finals had been littered with high drama, but nothing
that had happened previously could be compared to what they had to withstand at
the home of Deportivo La Coruna.
United needed all of their three-goal lead from the first leg as they were
subjected to intense pressure the whole game from a team that attacked from
everywhere and with such purpose that they often threatened to run amok.

United were unchanged from their magnificent
Good Friday win at Anfield and they did not take the
option of a 4-5-1formation as it would have invited an all-out attack from Deportivo. They stuck to their normal formation which had
seen them only defeated once since the turn of the year, and that by a
hand-ball goal from Raul at the Bernabeu. Deportivo had a much more attack-minded team than at Elland Road, bringing in free-scoring striker
Walter Pandiani to partner Roy Makaay
up front with aging Brazilian Donato bolstering the defence and the midfield was also strengthened by the
inclusion of the lippy Victor and Mauro Silva. United were off to a good start
with Harry Kewell skinning Manuel Pablo and Alan
Smith getting in an header from Lee Bowyer’s cross and
then Harry Kewell’s cross just eluded Lee Bowyer at
the far post. After the early United pressure Deportivo started to settle to their task and they scored
in the eighth minute when Roy Makaay crossed from the
left and Harry Kewell was adjudged to have pushed
Victor in the box and Djalminha sent Nigel Martyn the wrong way from the spot.

Spurred on by their early success Deportivo proceeded to rock United with both Rio Ferdinand
and Danny Mills being put through a thorough examination by the adventurous
Victor and the speed of Walter Pandiani. Donato’s push on Alan Smith relieved the pressure but
United were unable to capitalize on their free-kick as NourredineNaybet swiftly cut off Alan Smith progress on the
edge of the area. On the half-hour United were grateful for a terrible miscue
by Roy Makaay from point-blank range. Then Rio
Ferdinand cleared of the line, Nigel Martyn made two
crucial stops and Manual Pablo’s strong volley took a critical deflection as United’s goal remained under siege. Nigel Martyn then flung himself to his right to keep out Walter Pandiani’s glancing header and it was extremely astonishing
that the hosts only led by the single goal on the night. Such was the disarray
in the United camp that Alan Smith and Mark Viduka argued openly, but three minutes before half-time Donato’s under-hit back pass gave Alan Smith a chance, but
after rounding the keeper the best he could do was fire into the side-netting.

Ian Harte’s crucial
header from under the bar denied Victor and Nigel Martyn
tipped Romero’s shot onto a post as Deportivo
reappeared after the break with no less intent. Olivier Dacourt
brought Francisco Molina to his knees, Alan Smith cleverly won a corner on the
right and Harry Kewell was equally cunning on the
left as United finally broke free. They were soon on the back-foot again as Ian
Harte made another important headed clearance, NourredineNaybet was too high
with a header from Fran’s corner and Nigel Martyn
kept out Roy Makaay’s stinging shot after he had been
played in by Fran. The Leedskeeper was booked for time-wasting in the
sixty-third minute after the overlapping Djalminho’s
shot had whistled just wide. Significantly Deportivo
were now resorting to shooting from distance but Makaay
did test Nigel Martyn with a header which he tipped
over for a corner. But after Alan Smith had made an excellent saving tackle to
stop Fran, Deportivo scored their second goal after
seventy-three minutes when Valeron hit the ball to
the near post and his fellow substitute Tristan on was on hand to clip it in
left-footed.

Mark Viduka was
instantly presented with a glorious chance to wrap the game up for United after
Dacourt had put him in the clear but Francisco
Molina, springing to his left produced a spectacular save. As sinews tired and
hearts pumped, Fran tried to catch out Nigel Martyn
in the closing stages with a shot inside the near post, after shaping to cross,
but the United custodian was equal to the task and had
it well covered. Then came the sweetest sound of the
final whistle.

Match Action:

Alan Smith goes in hard

Ian Harte confronts
Manuel Pablo

Alan Smith hassles Donato

Rio Ferdinand admires a brilliant save by

Nigel Martyn

Lee Bowyer salutes the fans after the gameRio Ferdinand and Olivier Dacourt at the end of
the game